A Promised Slime in Neverland
by Aesop
Summary: This is a follow up to the Strange Days chapter, 'Mixing it Up' that can be found on my page. After Xander and Faith leave, Rimuru decides that he can't simply let matters stand. He hatches a plan to help the humans of that world. Co-written with Storyseeker.


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Promised Neverland or That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. This is just for fun, and no profit is earned.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was co-written with Storyseeker as a follow up to the Strange Days chapter, 'Mixing it Up' that can be found on my page. After Xander and Faith leave, Rimuru decides that he can't simply let matters stand. He hatches a plan to help the humans of that world.

A Promised Slime in Neverland

Rimuru had ordered the town square cleared so as not to alarm the children when they arrived. He knew that human children were in danger from monsters, and being brought here for their safety, but that was all Milim had been able to tell him. For the moment, though, that was enough. He also knew that many humans in the world he now called home would not react well to a crowd of monsters, and there was no way of knowing what these kids considered normal.

He waited alone as the portal opened. Milim could be seen on the other side, gesturing grandly for the group of kids. The girl was a bit of a ham at times, Rimuru chuckled. He waved to the kids, an easy smile on his face, and two of the older kids stepped through. The dark-haired boy looked suspicious, but the orange-haired girl, carrying a toddler, smiled back at him. Both looked around the square cautiously, though. Rimuru wondered why all of the kids were dressed in white, but just added it to the growing list of questions.

"It's okay," the girl called to the others. "You can come through."

Reassured, the kids started to walk through the portal, somewhat hesitantly at first, and spread out a bit, staring in wonder at the town. Milim hadn't told him too much about the kids except that they were kept isolated at what they believed was an orphanage, and that they were in danger of being eaten by monsters. He greeted those who spoke to him, and asked them to wait for their friends.

Soon, the last child and the only adult in the group was through the portal. Milim called out that she would be back soon, and the portal closed. He looked over at the children's caretaker, and promised himself he'd talk to her as soon as possible about what was happening on her world. First, though, he needed to get through the introductions, and get everyone settled. There were about 30 children altogether, and most of them were a bit scared.

Once the children had calmed down, with some encouragement from the dark-skinned woman, Rimuru spoke to the group.

"Welcome to your new home. I know many of you have questions, and I'll do my best to answer them, but there are things you need to know and understand about my town and about the orphanage where you grew up. You were told it was no longer safe there. That is true. This place, though, is safe." That wasn't actually true. The town faced multiple threats, but at the moment, the kids needed reassuring.

"It is safe, because the people who live here are strong and good, and they defend their homes and their friends. That said, I must tell you that my town is home to many different types of people. Some will seem very diff…"

"Hey there! What's goin' on?"

Rimuru froze at the voice. _Wasn't Gabiru supposed to be gathering Hipokte herbs in Veldora's cave? Did no one tell him?!_ He turned to see the dragonewt approaching the group, looking curious. The kids stared wide-eyed, and Rimuru knew they were seconds from panicking. If even just one of the 30 children managed to flee the town, they could be seriously hurt. Some of the predators in the woods were troublesome, even for his hunting parties.

"Don't be afraid!" he hurriedly called out to the children. "I did say the people here were different." The kids were still edging away, but now the woman _-_ _what was her name again?_ _-_ was stepping in to help control the situation.

"Stay together, children, and back away slowly." She moved around the group, offering advice and reassurance where she could, but Rimuru noticed that she was careful to keep well clear of Gabiru, herself. There was no attempt to put herself between the kids and the potential threat.

_Curious_.

"Kids, this is Gabiru." He nodded to the dragonewt who nodded and waved in a friendly manner. He seemed wary of getting any closer to the kids for some reason.

"Hey there, ru… I mean children! It's nice to meet you."

Rimuru rolled his eyes. Milim had really made an impression on the evolved lizardman. "Gabiru is a dragonewt. He's friendly." the town leader assured them. "But he's just one of the many types of people living here." The kids stopped fidgeting and listened, though they still looked ready to bolt, and didn't take their eyes off of the huge lizard-like creature.

"I built this place so that people of all kinds could live here in peace," Rimuru explained. "We have several types of lizardmen, as well as dwarves, hobgoblins, kijin, and orcs. Everyone gets along well. Although we have human friends and allies, you're actually the first human residents we have." He had hesitated over telling them that, but they would have learned it soon enough.

"He's not going to eat us?" a hesitant voice asked. One of the younger kids, Rimuru guessed, based on the voice.

Gabiru looked horrified at the idea, and gagged a little.

"I think that's a 'no' on the eating you thing," Rimuru said drily. The kids stared, apparently not sure what to make of the dragonewt's reaction.

"I don't eat humans!" Gabiru hastily agreed. "Even if eating other intelligent creatures wasn't against the rules here, I've heard humans taste awful." He paused. "That is… I'm sure you'd taste… ah…" He broke off at a loss, and Rimuru fought the urge to facepalm.

The children's caretaker broke the tension and chuckled. "None of us are going to find the idea of tasting bad insulting, considering what we came here to escape."

Gabiru looked almost comically relieved, and some of the children giggled, though some of them looked at their caretaker questioningly. Rimuru suspected that the kids hadn't been told the whole reason for their sudden departure.

"I think we can meet the others now," the caretaker offered.

Rimuru nodded and called out. "You can come out now!" Several doors opened along the street, and people began to slowly come out into the square. They had been instructed to be careful not to frighten the children, and while many were confused, as there hadn't been a lot of time to prepare, which, he supposed, explained the mix up with Gabiru, they had followed his instructions.

Shion approached the group. Rimuru reasoned that the kijin and dwarves would be the least likely to scare them. "Hi, I'm Shion," she said warmly.

Other townspeople began to approach, and the children relaxed. The dwarves looked the most human, so they were better received than the orcs or the lizardmen, but they still made the kids nervous for a reason that Rimuru didn't understand.

"It will take time, I suspect." Souei appeared at his side, silently and without warning, as was his habit. Rimuru had gotten used to it, so he didn't jump. "I'd suggest talking to the adult human as quickly as possible."

Rimuru nodded. "There are definitely mysteries here." He set that issue aside for the moment to focus on practical matters. He had gone over the town's resources in his mind, and hoped he was remembering everything accurately.

"We need temporary housing for 31 new people. We'll ask for volunteers to take them in, at least until something suitable for them can be built. Maybe, a longhouse?" He shrugged. "I'll leave it to the dwarves to decide what's best. Clothing, as well; talk to the weavers. We're also going to need more food. Some of the things we eat might not agree with a human palate." He thought for a moment. "There's probably a lot more that I'm not aware of. I'll speak to their caretaker about that. Pass instructions to the rest."

"I will see to it, my lord." With that, he was gone. Rimuru looked out over the crowd again, and saw a potential problem. The direwolves had arrived. Curious about the commotion, Ranga led some of his pack through the crowd that made way for them.

The large canines entered the area where the children were hesitantly greeting the townsfolk, hopefully warming up to them. As Rimuru expected, the kids froze at the sight of the large animals. Seeing that some of them were on the verge of panicking, he prepared to step in and reassure them, but it proved unnecessary.

One of the younger boys approached. He barely came up to Ranga's shoulder, a bit shorter than Gobta. Ranga lowered his head curiously, and the boy petted his nuzzle and stroked his fur. "Soft!" the boy said, giggling. Then he giggled again, as Ranga licked his face.

"Hello, cub," Ranga greeted him kindly. "It's nice to meet you."

This seemed to finally relax the children, as they all began to approach the direwolves, their curiosity overwhelming their nervousness.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Thank you for taking us in."

"You're welcome, Krone." Rimuru, still in his human form, said as he sat down. He had arranged housing for the children, and gotten the dwarves and orcs to start work on a large house for all of the kids and their caretaker. The children were currently getting settled at their temporary digs, or exploring the town with a guide. That left him time to talk to the only adult among the new arrivals.

They were currently settled in the meeting room used by his council. Most of the council was present for this; Benimaru, Geld, Souei, Rigurd, Hakurou, and of course Shion, who always stayed near him in case of trouble. If Krone was intimidated by the group sitting before her, expecting answers, she didn't show it. Rimuru had spoken with Great Sage before the meeting, and could tell she was nervous. It turned out that the Great Sage could monitor a person's physical responses pretty closely. It was telling him that Krone was not as calm as she appeared. The only outward sign, though, was a bit of sweat on her brow.

"I'm sure you have questions," she began. "Why don't you let me tell you what I can, first?"

Rimuru nodded.

"I don't know anything about the history of my world. No human does. We're taught what we need to know and nothing more. The demons control everything, as far as I know. There were originally five plantations where human children were raised and educated. The smartest of them are culled routinely. That is, they're taken by the demons as food. I don't know why intelligence is important to them, but it is. No one lives past age 12, except those few girls that are offered the choice."

"Choice?" Souei asked for the group. His expression was as serene as ever, but Rimuru could tell that he was watching their guest intently.

Krone nodded. "To train to become moms. Some girls, like me, are given a choice of dying like the rest, or begin training to run plantations of our own as a 'mom', someone who takes care of the kids, and lives a long healthy life; as long as they keep the product coming."

"Product?" Rimuru knew the answer, but had to hear it anyway.

"The kids, of course." Krone shrugged. "The demons only like the young ones for food, but they need humans to raise them, teach them, and keep them under control. Guess they don't like to be bothered with 'menial' tasks."

"And you were offered a chance to be a mom and took it." He tried to keep the condemnation out of his voice, but what he was hearing sickened him.

"When the option was dying? Of course, I did." Her tone was bland. She made no apologies, and according to the sage she was telling no lies.

Her tone irritated him, but her words gave Rimuru pause. What would he do in her position? What would anyone do? "Continue, please."

"We are trained to protect and care for the children. This includes everything from changing diapers and cooking, to treating serious injuries. We are also trained in tracking and hand-to-hand combat, among other things, in case the kids should ever try to rebel or escape."

The members of the council traded looks, engaging in a silent conversation for a moment, before Rimuru decided to move on. "Where are the other plantations and the training facility?"

"The training facility for the moms is at headquarters. I don't know where it is in relation to any of the plants are, since whenever I was moved; it was in a locked vehicle with no windows. Until recently, none of the children were aware of any of the other plants' existence, as humans are kept ignorant about most things."

"So, your job was to take care of the kids till they were old enough to feed to the demons?" Rimuru asked.

"It would have been, eventually. There were originally only five plantations, so mom positions rarely come open. We were at plant 3, where I had just been assigned as a helper. The kids were taught to call me sister Krone. The next shipment wasn't due for another week or so." She allowed a slight smile. "I hope they're hurting over the loss of 'product.'"

"What can you tell us about the lands around the plantations?" Souei asked.

"Nothing. I've never been outside the plantations or headquarters."

"Do any of them have any defences?" he asked, guessing that his lord would wish to move against these demons eventually.

"They do have security guards, especially at headquarters. There aren't many guards around the plantations, though, as they mostly rely on the tracking devices imbedded in each of the children to tell them where they are. However, since our liberation, I can't vouch that my information is still accurate."

"Are you willing to share what you do know about the operation of the plantations and the headquarters?" Rimuru asked. "Including the layouts?"

She answered without hesitation and with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "I'll tell you everything I know."

"Lord Rimuru, what are you planning?" Shion asked.

Rimuru looked down for a moment. "I can't sit back and do nothing while there are children waiting to be fed to demons. We need to start making plans to infiltrate those other plantations, and rescue the other children."

"How?" asked Rigurd. "Miss Krone here admits that she knows nothing about the other plantations, or how to get to them."

"Then we'll just have to find out for ourselves." Rimuru looked up. "Once Milim gets back, send her to me. We'll need her help since she's the only one who can open a portal to their world. We'll start making preparations, but for now, we have 30 scared children to take care of, which leads to my next question." He looked back at Krone. "Tell me, Miss Krone; can I trust you?"

She looked startled for a moment, but then smiled. "I promise you I will tell you everything I know about…"

"I'm not talking about that." He interrupted her. "I'm talking about the children. Can I trust you with them?"

She looked back at him with a puzzled expression. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

Rimuru sat back in his chair, and looked her dead in the eye. "Because you are going to be the children's new…_mom_, as you call it."

"Lord Rimuru, are you sure about that?" Benimaru interjected. The others looked just as dubious, though they stayed silent, and Rimuru couldn't really fault them for it. From what Krone had told them, and the lack of empathy she had shown when talking about her duties, and her willingness to send children to their deaths to save her own life, he couldn't blame them for thinking that she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the children. Assigning her as their caretaker must seem like a horrible idea.

Rimuru held up his hand to quiet them. "Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have reservations about letting a woman who admitted to being willing to send little kids off to be some demon's banquet, be those kids' caretaker. But what we have to remember is that she comes from a very different world; one where humans are treated like cattle, and there was no chance of escape. How desperate would any of us be in her place, knowing that she could be killed at any moment, and the only way to stay alive was to bow and scrape to the demons? I can't even begin to imagine what her life was like." He focused on Krone. "That's the only reason I'm willing to give you a chance and let slide what you said you would do if you had been made a mom in that world!" He said the last part with a stern tone, eyeing her dangerously.

Krone said nothing, merely waiting with a stoic expression.

Rimuru sighed. "But since you were never made a mom, and even helped these children escape, I'd say you deserve a chance, so I'm granting you probation."

_Probation?_ Krone wondered, but stayed silent.

"Even so…" Souei started, but Rimuru interrupted him.

"Guys, we have 30 scared kids out there. They're strangers in a strange world they know nothing about, filled with creatures they have never even imagined of. Krone is the only adult who they all know and apparently trust. They don't know any of us. Plus, Krone says she's been trained to be a mom most of her life, so she is the best person for the job."

Hope began to grow in Krone's heart, and she even allowed herself a smile. That smile fell away, though, at Rimuru's next words.

"However," he said, staring hard at her, "while you will be the children's caretaker here, you will also be supervised. There will always be someone nearby to keep an eye on you and make sure that the children are all in good health. As long as they are, there will be nothing to worry about." His face and tone darkened. "But if I find that any of those kids have been mistreated in any way, or that you've lied to us about your past or your intentions…" As he spoke, his shadow seemed to come alive, as a huge shape grew out of it and took on the form of the massive wolf from earlier. Rimuru petted the direwolf's leg, as he was too big for him to reach his head. "…Then Ranga here will have found a new chew-toy."

The blood drained from Krone's face, as she stared up at the snarling wolf in front of her. It was definitely the same wolf she had seen playing with the children earlier, but it was now at least twice the size it had been before, and it didn't look nearly as friendly.

"I trust we have an understanding, Miss Krone?" Rimuru rose to his fee, and held out his hand for her to shake.

Krone swallowed the lump in her throat, ruthlessly shoving down her nervousness, and smiled back as she took the slime's hand and shook it. "We do, Lord Rimuru. I look forward to proving myself to you."

"Excellent! Now, let's go see how our young charges are doing."

0000000000

"WHOOOOAAA!" Ray shrieked, as the direwolf he was on seemed to run faster than the wind. He clutched onto the hobgoblin in front of him, a smaller specimen who had introduced himself as Gobta.

"Isn't this great?!" Gobta cried out. "Of course, he can run faster, but I thought we should start with something a little slower for your first try!"

_This is slower?_ Ray thought in disbelief, as he held on for dear life. Why the hell had he asked to ride on one of their wolves?!

Emma and Norman were sitting on a hill, laughing as they watched their friend speed through the grass, his normally long and straight-up hair now pulled back and flying behind him.

Emma lay back on the ground and smiled. They had done it. They were free! The countryside had never looked so beautiful, nor had the air tasted so sweet before. That was because, for the first time, they were not sitting on ground or breathing air inside of a glorified cage. They were no longer stuck at the orphanage, counting the days till they were shipped out to be some demon's meal.

The moment she thought this, she instantly remembered her friend Conny, and grimaced. _If only they had come sooner, _she thought. She knew she shouldn't think such things, as Milim and those other people hadn't known anything about them, and had turned up at the house purely by accident. But still, she couldn't help feeling resentful. _If they had just arrived a few days earlier, then maybe Conny would be here, too. _

Norman looked over at her, and seemed to know what she was thinking, as he took her hand and squeezed it. "Let it go, Emma," he said. "There's nothing we can do for Conny now, except honour her memory. We escaped…with _everyone_, just like you wanted."

"I know," she replied. "I just wish…we _all_ could have escaped."

He gave her a sad look. "I know," Norman said, and held her hand tighter. "But we're all here now. We escaped. We're free. We have a new home, one without walls. And we're living in a town with all these amazing creatures in it!"

Emma smiled. It was true, as this town was amazing, and its people were more than interesting. She was particularly fascinated with the people who looked human but with horns coming out of their heads.

Just then, Gobta and Ray came to a screeching halt, as the direwolf they were riding on skidded to a stop in front of the two human children.

"We'd better get back now," Gobta said excitedly. "It'll be time for the celebration soon."

"Celebration?" Norman asked, while Ray shakily slid off the wolf, trying desperately not to fall over.

"Oh yeah! Lord Rimuru insisted on everyone in the town gathering together to welcome you all here. He even had Rigur go out and hunt down a Knight Spider for tonight's feast!"

His words were met with shocked silence.

_Spider?_

0000000000

The children stared in amazement at the giant pot bubbling in front of them. It looked big enough to hold food for the entire town.

"Dinner's ready! Come and get it!" Gobta called out. The rest of the crowd of monsters all stood aside, allowing the children to go first, since the feast was in their honour. _Honestly_, Emma thought, I _would be happy to go last_. She had seen some of the ingredients they had thrown into the pot, including what looked like the head and legs of a spider, except this one was about a million times bigger than any spider she'd ever seen.

"Well, ladies first," Norman said, smiling nervously.

"No, you can go first," she quickly replied.

"Weren't you the one who was intent on looking after everyone?" Ray added humourlessly. "Think of this as checking to see whether or not the food's safe for the rest of us to eat."

Emma glared at him, and would have been happy to shove him forward, but at that moment the kids were all lined up behind them, and the crowd was waiting for them so that they could get their helpings as well.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she made her way up the steps to the pot with her bowl. An overweight hobgoblin stood by the pot with a huge ladle. He reached in with it, and scooped out some of the pot's contents, and poured them into her bowl. He nodded at her, and she gave him a half-anxious smile. Luckily, what she had in her bowl didn't look anything like a spider, but the knowledge that it was didn't do anything for the queasiness in her stomach.

The rest of the children all went up one by one, obtaining their dinner, but none of them started eating. She cursed lowly, as the kids were waiting for her to take the first bite. Most of them had started looking to her, Ray and the other older kids as their leaders, which apparently included being their food-tasters. The crowd were all looking at them, too, apparently waiting for her to take the first bite.

Taking a deep breath and holding it, she scooped out some of the food and shoved it into her mouth. The second she did…she felt her taste-buds explode. The food at the plantation had always been nutritious and filling. While it had been good, none of those meals had even come close to the delicious flavour she was now enjoying.

Getting over her fear of moments ago, Emma practically dove into her bowl, scooping out spoonful after spoonful, and plunging it into her mouth, devouring it all. Once the rest of the children saw her digging in, they soon followed her example, and like her they were soon wolfing down every bite. The crowd cheered, and then went on to get their own helpings.

"Yum! How can something as disgusting as a spider be so tasty?!" Emma said excitedly.

"You shouldn't judge something without first giving it a chance," a voice said behind her, and she looked to see Rimuru smiling at her. "The same goes for people," he added.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense," she hastily apologised, but Rimuru waved off her concerns.

"It's okay. For what it's worth, most people have the same reservations about eating spiders for the first time. I think it must be the number of legs. It freaks them out."

Emma smiled. Around them, the kids were either eating or playing with the townsfolk. Phil and Nat were playing with Ranga who was in his giant form, lying on his back on the ground, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, as the boys rubbed his belly. Gilda and Anna were talking with Shion and Shuna, asking about their healing potions and their weaving. And Thoma and Lani were with the orc leader Geld, holding onto his arms, as he lifted them high into the air, laughing.

"Actually," Rimuru started to look serous, "I wanted to talk with you and your friends. I understand you and the two boys - Norman and Ray is it? – were the ones who worked with Sister Krone to try and escape from the orphanage?"

Emma lost her smile, and idly stirred her bowl. "I suppose so."

Her tone worried him, but he knew it was too late to second guess himself now. Everything had already been decided and worked out. "In that case, I need to tell you something," he said, looking into her eyes. "Since you're one of the kids' leaders, as it were, then you should know that I have decided to have Sister Krone act as your new caretaker, or mom."

She nearly dropped her bowl in shock. "You can't be serious?!"

He looked at her in confusion. "Why? I thought you got on well with her, considering that she helped you and your friends escape."

"Only so that she could get mo…_Isabella_ terminated, and get made our new mom in her place!" Emma stared at him with wild eyes. "That woman is…!"

"Emma!" Norman's voice suddenly spoke out from behind her, and she turned to see her silver-haired friend standing before her. "Mind if I talk to you for a moment?"

She didn't really want to speak right then, even with him. She wanted to shout and scream, listing all the reasons having Krone as their new mom was a bad idea. The woman's insanity topped that list. But as she looked at him, he gave her a meaningful stare, and she frowned and nodded. "Excuse us for a moment, Mr. Rimuru," she said, excusing the two of them, as they walked away from a curious slime.

"What are we going to do?" she asked urgently. "Did you hear what he said? What they're planning to do! Who they're planning to have look after us!"

Norman sighed. "Yes, I did."

Emma paused for a moment, as she suddenly realised something. "Then why aren't you as mad as me?"

He looked at her. "Because I'm not entirely sure it's a bad idea."

"Huh?!"

He sighed again. "Emma, look around us. Krone is the only adult human here, and the only one the smaller kids feel safe around. Not to mention that she's a mom who's been trained to take care of multiple kids. Heck, I'm amazed Rimuru didn't make her our new mom the second we first came here. Amazed but happy, as it shows he's cautious of her and genuinely concerned for us."

"You can't seriously want Krone to be our mom?" she asked, staring at him intently.

Norman chewed his lower lip. "In all honesty," he admitted, "no I don't. Despite what I just said about her training and all, the woman still scares the heck out of me. I remember the way she acted the night when we went to her room to ask her questions, the way she started prancing around the room, acting all crazy. She frightened me more that night than the thought of being fed to those demons."

"Then why would…?"

"For the reason I just said, Emma. The younger kids are really scared. In one day, they've lost mom, their home, most if not all of their things, and been forced to live on a strange world with a bunch of friendly but still scary-looking monsters. Everything we have always lived with or took for granted is now gone. We have to learn everything from scratch, including how to live in this new world. Sister Krone is the only thing from our world they still recognise, and the one thing that keeps them calm. If we take that away, they'll have nothing."

Emma clenched her fists, wishing she had something to punch.

"That doesn't mean we won't keep an eye on her," he added. "Rimuru proved, just now, that he cares about us. So, if Krone ever does anything to hurt us, we'll just tell him and let him handle it."

She thought for a few moments, and then slowly nodded, only to pause again. "But what if he doesn't?"

Norman frowned, and then looked at her with a grim smile. "In that case, then we'll handle her ourselves!"

She held back a snort of laughter, and nodded. "Fine, but if anything happens, I blame you, okay?"

"Don't you always?" he replied with a scoff, and followed her back to Rimuru who was even now standing with Krone. Norman worked hard to hide the look of unease on his face when he came up to her. He hadn't been kidding when he told Emma how much she had scared him that night back home. The woman was clearly unstable, but that still didn't change how much they needed her, for now.

"Hello, Sister Krone," said Emma as she came up to them. "Or should I say Mother Krone now?"

Krone grinned brightly. "Thank you, children. I hope I can rely on your help dealing with all the younger children in your group."

"Oh, rest assured," Emma promised, "you can count on it." She said the final part with a hard look, silently promising the older woman that she would always be there whether Krone needed her or not, and if anything happened to any of her siblings, she would deal with her.

0000000000

**One Month Later: **

Before anyone knew it, a whole month had passed. The children had, thankfully, managed to settle well into the capitol of the Jura Tempest Federation. Between the dwarves' intellect and the orcs' stamina and great strength, the townsfolk had quickly built a fine longhouse for the children and Krone to live in. It was very different from the orphanage, but that didn't matter much. It was warm and dry, and the kids felt safe there.

Shuna had also taken it upon herself to tailor each of the children and Krone new outfits. Her offer was quickly accepted by all of them, as none of the kids had worn anything except plain white their whole lives, and Krone had nothing to wear except her old mom's dress, which, apparently, was a type of uniform. Soon, they were all wearing new clothes in a variety of different colours.

Emma, now wearing a short green dress, spent a lot of time looking after the younger kids, and keeping an eye on Krone, while the rest of the children each settled into a routine that suited them. Part of their day was spent in lessons, learning the written language used in their new world, along with the history and geography of the region. These were things that Rimuru insisted that they know. They also learned about the more dangerous creatures in the region. Knight Spiders, for instance, might be tasty when cooked correctly, but they were very dangerous while still alive. Rimuru pointed out that all of the kids needed to know what they should run from if worse came to worst.

The afternoons were given over to the kids' personal interests. Norman and Ray spent their free time at the forge, watching Garm work. Neither of them was strong enough to help with the actual forging, but they were put to work on simple tasks that allowed them to learn from the ground up, and get stronger at the same time.

Each of the kids found something to interest them. Anna was fascinated in the healing potion that Rimuru could make, after seeing one used to treat an injured hobgoblin. She asked how it was made, and was tasked with helping Gabiru and the other dragonewts in the afternoons to gather herbs in Veldora's cave.

When Emma traded off with Norman or Ray for 'Krone detail,' she watched Shion practice with her sword, and was, after a week or two of this, offered a chance to learn the forms. The woman proved an excellent teacher, though Emma couldn't come close to her level of strength and speed.

Gilda took an interest in sewing and the making of clothes, so she found herself working with Shuna, and was occasionally tutored by Dord. As with the boys working with Garm, she was learning all aspects of the middle bother's crafting skills.

The younger kids liked playing with the direwolves and learning to ride them. Gobta watched over them as they learned, and smiled at their rapid progress. For the moment, they were just playing, but if they kept at it, some of them might make good additions to his unit, the goblin riders, someday. He'd pass on the thought to Lord Rimuru, to see what he thought of it.

What surprised all of the older kids was Krone. She had taken to her duties easily enough, doing the work she was trained for, but over time, she had relaxed, a tension she had always had about her seemed to vanish, and she began smiling and even laughing with the children and townsfolk. The smiles weren't forced for the children's benefit, as they had been in the past, nor were they stress induced, near hysterical parodies, but were genuine happy smiles. These surprised Krone more than any of the kids.

All her life, she had lived with fear. It had been her constant companion from the time she'd left her orphanage at age 12. The removal of that constant companion had been so sudden that it had taken time for the reality of its absence to sink in. Tension had eased from her only gradually. She kept expecting to see grandmother or even a demon to pop up. But that, thankfully, didn't happen.

It took time, but she began to truly enjoy her new life. The kids she was looking after now had the chance to live long, happy lives. The notion was so alien to her, that she was slow to truly understand the implications. In truth, she admitted to herself, she might never really understand. What mattered was, for the time being at least, there was no fear. There were only children that needed looking after. That she could do.

She thought about her doll from time to time in the first week. It had been her other constant companion, something equally loved and loathed. Were she the sort given to introspection; she might have wondered about that. The doll had been a symbol of lost innocence, and a talisman against the monsters, though she hadn't thought of it that way. All she'd known was that she could share her feelings and pent up frustrations with the doll without consequences. She had accidentally damaged or even destroyed it from time to time, but she had always felt compelled to repair it. To have someone to talk to.

After the first week in their new home, she had grown too busy to think about her doll. By the time she did stop to reflect on her lost companion, it surprised her to realize that she didn't need to talk to it anymore. There was no fear here. Despite Rimuru's initial threat, she was not worried. She had been treated well, and knew that she would never give him any reason to act against her. It was still a shock that she didn't need the doll. When nothing else had given her pause, that realization did. After a moment, she gave another genuine smile.

Admittedly, there was some stress, but it came from an unexpected source. The goblin lord, Rigurd, had taken to coming around often and talking to her. She also saw him at the market when picking out food for the kids. She first assumed that he was there to watch over her, as Rimuru had said they would, but lately he seemed to have taken an interest with virtually everything else about her. And for a reason that baffled her, he would often flex his muscles in her presence.

She found herself blushing when he did that, which was odd, as mostly such displays just made her wary of him. It seemed a dominance display of some sort. Did he see her as some kind of threat? That didn't make sense. She made sure to always be polite, but always made an excuse to leave as soon as she could. Until she figured out what he wanted, being around him was a risk she didn't need to take.

Some of the hobgoblin females saw what he was doing, and laughed quietly as she passed by. She considered asking, but she didn't know any of them, and felt likely that the joke was on her, somehow.

She put it out of her mind as best she could and focused on her work. Keeping the kids in line was easier when everything was regulated, as they had been at the orphanage. Now they left the longhouse for their lessons, and then went their own way until they returned home for the evening meal. The youngest ones were always around, as were a couple of hobgoblin 'helpers.' Krone knew they were there to keep an eye on her, but she wasn't doing anything suspicious, and took some satisfaction in putting them to work.

Despite Rigurd's odd behaviour and her 'assistants,' Krone was pleased with her new life. The kids were safe and happy. They were settling into their new home and even making new friends among the monster children, and they were thoroughly enjoying exploring their new world. She hadn't had to deal with anything worse than scraped knees and other simple play-related injuries.

She knew she'd given her hosts nothing to complain about, so it was with some confusion and a little trepidation, that she answered a summons from Lord Rimuru. She had always dreaded receiving such summons back home. People tended not to return from meetings with the masters.

Rimuru, however, was nothing like the masters. He wasn't malicious. He didn't eat children. And, frankly, he looked stranger in his real form.

The council was waiting for her when she arrived. Rimuru was in his natural slime form, being held by Shion who was hugging him close, tucked under her breasts, as was her habit. Geld, Benimaru, Hakurou, Souei, and, for some reason, Gobta were also there. She took a seat at Rimuru's direction.

"It's been a month," Rimuru began without preamble. "You and the kids are settling in well. The kids are fitting in and making friends, and I'm happy to say I've gotten nothing but glowing reports of your work."

Krone only nodded. No point in responding to that.

"But time continues to pass on both worlds, and I'm not prepared to just leave who knows how many kids to be food for demons. I think it's time we took action."

Krone resisted the urge to heave a sigh of relief. Although the idea that they were planning on returning to and attacking her former home was stressful, to say the least, she was thankful that at least none of them had any complaints with her work.

"What do you have in mind, my lord?" Benimaru asked.

"We need to rescue as many of those kids as we can. I can have Milim open a portal, and have a strike team go through to scout the plantation. Find out where the others are, and what it will take to get the job done."

"My riders will be a big help there." Gobta offered. "The wolves have great noses, and can pick up anything unusual. Tracking any guards at the place shouldn't be hard. Then we can catch one of them and get some answers."

"We'll need to do that soon enough," Rimuru agreed, "but at first, I'd like us to conceal our presence there as much as possible."

"I can scout without being seen." Souei assured them. "The goblin riders can cover more territory, but scouting inside the walls should be left to me. I can create duplicates of myself to search even further."

"Works for me," Rimuru agreed. He turned to Krone. "What I need from you is to go over everything you've told us before. Any additional details, no matter how small, may help."

"Of course, but I doubt I can tell you anything significant. They'll have had time to tighten security around the plantations, and likely around headquarters, too. The layout of the headquarters building won't have changed, but there are sections of it I've never seen. Humans weren't allowed."

"Understood." Rimuru said. "Nevertheless, I want to be as well prepared as possible."

The group settled in to make plans.

OOOOOOOOOO

Two days later, a blue shadow moved through the trees around the children's former home. Souei had been transported to the other world via Milim's portal only moments ago, and was already scouting the area.

Strange creatures moved through the woods; pale-skinned monsters unlike anything Souei had seen before. They were tall beings that each had a long, thin face with two eyes arranged vertically, one above the other, and two horns. They also had mouths with sharp canines and long tongues. Their arms were long with six fingers that ended in sharp nails, almost talons. Each had four limbs, like humans, ogres and goblins, and walked on two legs. As Souei looked at them closer, he realised they each wore a mask and a black cape for some reason. He found this most curious, and wondered if it might indicate a weakness. It was also possible that it was merely local fashion. He made a note of it for his report.

They were working in and around the orphanage, making changes and improving security, as best he could tell. It seemed likely they planned to reopen the place, perhaps with a new batch of kids. Or perhaps, that was what they wanted anyone who came snooping to think.

Souei moved in for a closer look, but as he approached the creatures, he noticed them stop moving and look around themselves. He paused for a moment. Was it possible they could sense his presence? They clearly couldn't see him, as their eyes passed over his hiding spot several times, but they kept moving their heads around, seemingly watching for anything.

He waited a short while, unmoving, until the creatures seemed to give up and go about their business. Deciding that he should scout the rest of the area, he made duplicates of himself, which instantly sped off to examine the place.

He followed the creatures to the building that had apparently been the children's original home, if home was the correct word to describe a place where you waited to be slaughtered. Did chickens consider their coops home? Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. The creatures continued with their work, performing what looked like routine maintenance on the house. After a while, Souei got bored and leapt up into a tree where he could easily stay out of the creature's way. He decided he would wait until nightfall when, hopefully, the creatures would be gone, and he would be able to explore the house properly.

As he settled in the tree, he suddenly received a thought communication from his duplicates. They had scouted some of the land, and had come across a huge wall, which appeared to surround the entire plantation. No doubt this was the one that Krone had already told them about, which was built to contain the orphanage, securing the children inside so they couldn't wander off or escape.

He instructed his duplicates to climb the wall and see what was beyond it. A second later, he received their report. There was a steep cliff just beyond the wall. A fall from it would undoubtedly kill a mere human, but a kijin with his abilities could easily scale it. From what they could see, however, there was nothing but forest. Duplicates searching in other directions had better luck. From their vantage points along the walls, they could make out much more of the overall structure

Souei kept constant contact with all of his duplicates, as they scouted the walls around plant 3 at speeds no human could match. Each report they provided was used to build a mental map that he could later commit to paper. He waited a few minutes for the rest of them to report. When they did, though, he was shocked.

It turned out that the outer wall enclosed a vast territory that was divided into sections. Each of the nearest sections contained plantations, which were almost identical to the one Souei was scouting. Though his clones had only viewed two so far, it was enough to establish a pattern. The duplicates stopped to examine the plantations from the wall, gathering what details they could. Each section followed the same pattern, with the same house and forested area, filled with children and a single woman who was presumably their caretaker. Each section also had a large locked gate on the far side of the plantation from the outer wall. That bore investigating.

_All of the enclosures are identical. Apparently, these demons don't have much imagination, _Souei thought amusedly.

A bit of careful scouting by his duplicates confirmed the three sections searched so far were identical, right down to the buildings housing the children, and were unlikely to reveal anything new. Souei ordered the clones to scout the walls near the gates rather than examine the orphanages. Since the other plantations were literally right next door, and seemed to be joined into one large structure, Souei wanted to know what was beyond the inner wall.

The inner wall was connected to the rest, and seemed to enclose a large area that contained what seemed to be the processing facility, where the children were rendered into meat before being shipped out. There were a large number of demons at work there. The area also had a system of roads that connected the processing facility to the six gates leading into the different enclosures. Each gate had two guards waiting in the inner area, where curious children would never see them, even if they ventured near the gates, something Krone had told them the kids were forbidden to do.

It took a few hours, even at his best speed, but his duplicates managed to circle the outer wall, and infiltrate the lands of four separate plantations. All of the children his duplicates could see, seemed happy and oblivious to the dangers surrounding them.

Souei couldn't believe it, but apparently all five of the plantations that Krone had told them about were connected to each other, separated by simple walls, and not off in separate, remote locations as previously suspected. His first thought was that Krone had lied to them, but Rimuru had said that he could tell the woman was being truthful, and Souei trusted his master's judgement.

He recalled that Krone had mentioned that humans were only told what they needed to know. She had never been outside the plantation containing her home orphanage until she was taken to headquarters for training. It was only recently that she'd arrived at plant 3. Beyond those three places, she had never been anywhere else. The device that she had had in her chest would have killed her if she had tried. She had also mentioned, he recalled, that she had been transported everywhere in a vehicle with no windows.

_She spent her entire life here, and never knew anything beyond the walls of her own section._ It wasn't exactly a unique situation. Many people, regardless of species, never travelled beyond the town where they were born, but those people usually had the option. The humans of this world were kept isolated their entire short lives. They were safe, happy, and most of all, controlled.

The entire complex appeared to be one massive hexagon, separated into six wedge shaped areas and a central 'hub.' Five of them held orphanages, each with about thirty children. The sixth was the most interesting.

The duplicates made their way over the wall of the northern most section, while Souei kept his psychic link open for any news, and thankfully, the news they brought him was not that of another plant. They reported that the next area they observed had no woods, unlike the previous ones, and looked to be a barren land. There was no vegetation at all, and its main feature was a large building, many times the size of the orphanages.

_It seems we've found the demons' headquarters,_ Souei deduced, and instructed his clones to carry on with their surveillance, and to keep their stealth skills active at all times.

From their minds, he learned that the demons' HQ was a massive building, with three floors, and demons patrolling the outside. The demons looked like the ones at plant 3, though he noticed that some of them had a long pipe connected to their masks for some reason. Souei wondered if the demons had some sort of breathing problem, but put it out of his mind for the time being.

The duplicates went around the building, but found that there were many guards actively patrolling, and at least two at every entrance. The demons at the doors looked slow, but they were big, thus able to cover the entrances with their bodies. As he saw it, Souei doubted he would be able to sneak into the building without at least touching one of them, thus alerting them to his presence. The windows were all barred, so breaking in without causing a noise was unlikely. So, for the moment, the duplicates settled for peering in the windows to see what they could find out.

The windows on the first floor appeared to belong to classrooms. He saw several girls of various ages in each one, all of whom were in the middle of a lesson. Some looked to be taking tests, others were learning to crochet, and some were in a gym of some kind, sparring with one another. Souei recalled Krone telling them that girls like her were trained in a number of subjects in order to be moms, including hand-to-hand combat and first aid.

There were undoubtedly more rooms without windows, but he couldn't learn anything about them. For the moment, he had to be content with the ones he could observe.

After seeing all he could on the first floor, his duplicates leaped onto the ledges and balconies outside the windows on the next two floors. The middle floor had almost no windows, but from what he could see, there appeared to be meeting rooms with unusual chairs in them, which were probably built for the demons. He could also see some kind of surgery in one of the other windows. The top floor seemed to be living quarters, undoubtedly for the girls and staff, some of which were being used at the moment.

There were many more girls upstairs, all of whom were either lying asleep or simply sitting on their beds. They looked to be somewhere around their mid-teens to early twenties, and all had vacant looks on their faces, but more importantly, they were all with child! Some of them looked close to full-term, while others didn't look pregnant at all, but seeing as most of them were, he assumed they all were.

_Is this what happens to all the girls who are chosen to be moms?_ he thought. _Is it part of their indoctrination or something? Krone never mentioned anything about…_ It suddenly hit him. It was sickening to contemplate, but in a twisted way he supposed it made sense. Krone had told them what happened to humans in this world, and that only girls were chosen to be moms, while the rest were all eaten. If that was true then where did all the new children come from? The only answer he could surmise was that they came from here.

It explained why the demons took so many girls to be trained into moms, even though there were never that many mom positions available. He guessed that the whole mom thing was just a cover-up, and what they really wanted the girls for was to be breeding stock. They brought the girls here, trained them to be moms for when and if a position ever became available, and until then they would use them to give birth to lots of babies, which they would then send off to one of the plantations here.

The more he followed this line of reasoning, the sicker he felt. These demons were monsters in the truest sense!

He then realized something else. If what he had deduced was true, then the demons would require both female and male humans to bear children. Although Souei did not know all that much about humans, even he knew that to make a baby, you needed a mother _and_ a father. It was so for ogres, and humans couldn't be that different. Krone had said that only girls were chosen to leave their orphanages alive, but then again, she had also said that humans like her were only ever told what they needed to know, and nothing else. Chances were that some boys were chosen to live as well, at least as donors for breeding.

Souei then thought of something else: Did that mean that Krone had also had a baby while she was here? She had never said so, but then again, Souei doubted that such a memory would be pleasant, and Krone had already admitted that she had done everything that was asked of her here in order for her survival.

One of the duplicates then saw another demon enter one of the rooms in HQ. This one was different from the others; bigger, with fine garments, and much larger and sharper talons then the others. It entered the room, along with an elderly human woman. Although he couldn't hear what they were saying, Souei guessed this demon had to be the boss of this place, and the woman might well be the grandmother that Krone had spoken of.

Deciding he had seen enough, Souei sent out a command to all of the duplicates in that section, which caused them all to vanish, as though they had never been there. He still had several traveling along the wall, though he suspected what he would discover. There had to be an exit to the outside world. So far, he had only seen a sheer drop beyond the outer wall. Perhaps at HQ there was a way to the outside world. He tasked one of those running the outer wall to investigate.

Souei looked up at the sky. _Still another hour to go till sunset._ _I'll wait here until then_. Rimuru had sent Souei here to infiltrate and scout the plantation, and told him that in six hours Milim would reopen the portal in the same place where he had appeared, to bring him home.

Settling down in the tree, Souei waited.

0000000000

"The outer wall only has one opening. It leads to a bridge that exits the complex for the outer world. It was heavily guarded, so I did not investigate. That's all the information I was able to gather," Souei reported. "As I said, I couldn't get into the building, but I doubt it could be anything other than their headquarters. Security was tight there, and there were demons roaming the grounds of the plantation the children were originally from, but none on the others."

Rimuru said nothing at first, as Souei's words slowly sank in. The thought that young girls were taken and impregnated, and then their children were removed and placed in orphanages until they were old enough to be sent to the slaughter, like cattle, was… Well, it was disgusting!

He looked over at Krone who was sitting at the table with the rest of them. She had been the one most surprised when Souei revealed that the other four plantations were all actually located right next door to each other, part of the same structure. He supposed he couldn't blame her for that, as she had lived there all her life and had never once suspected.

He was also curious about one other thing, but had better sense to ask. What Souei had told them about the girls taken away to be trained as moms, to be used as breeding stock, definitely sounded probable. It also posed the big question; did Krone have any children while she was there? He was tempted to ask her about it, but then thought no. If she wanted to tell them, she would.

Krone had said nothing throughout most of the report, simply sitting and listening, looking idly ahead, with her usual stoic expression on her face. If anything of what Souei said affected her, then she didn't let it show.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Shion, looking to Rimuru for answers.

For once, Rimuru was unsure. When he began this mission, he had intended to rescue the children in the other plantations, and maybe any of the moms who wished to come, too. He honestly hadn't thought about any of the girls at the demon's headquarters. But hearing about them now, he couldn't just leave them and their unborn children there.

"We'll find a way to bring the girls and women at the demon's headquarters with us as well," he said.

Krone looked up. "Forgive me, Lord Rimuru, but that might not be possible, at least not for all of them."

Rimuru looked at her questioningly.

Krone explained. "I'm sure there will be some girls who would be happy to come; most likely the youngest among them, but as for the older ones… I'm…not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Speaking from my own experience; a lot of the girls at HQ have, to put it bluntly, lost hope," she said. "When I was a child, and was first revealed the ugly truth of our world, it overwhelmed me. I went along with the grandmother at the time, simply because I was scared and didn't want to die. But despite all that, I still had a little hope that maybe, just maybe, I might find a way to escape. That soon changed, though, when I arrived at HQ. With every passing day, as I learned more and more about the world I lived in, it was like a little bit of my hope died, until finally I was left with nothing." She sighed. "Some of the younger girls might choose to come with you, because they haven't been there as long, but the older ones… They may have given up hope of ever leaving by now, and given their loyalty to _them_. Some might even be too afraid to come, either at the thought of leaving behind everything they've ever known, or fearful of betraying them."

Rimuru frowned. He hated to admit it, but what Krone said made sense. And it also presented him with a difficult problem; what would they do if the girls there refused to come with them? He didn't want to even think about leaving anyone there, especially those who were pregnant, but he couldn't force anyone to come against their will. Plus, depending on how many refused to come, even if they dragged them with them, they might not be able to do it in time before the demons sent reinforcements. Milim could defeat them easily, but there was no guarantee the rest of them would be that lucky.

He chewed his lower lip in thought, until finally he sighed regretfully. "We will take those who wish to come…and leave those who don't. I have no wish to endanger anyone's life in this mission."

The others all nodded in agreement.

"What are we going to do about the demons, though?" asked Rigurd. "It'll be hard trying to fight them and liberate the children at the same time. And if there are a lot of them, it'll make it that much more difficult."

Rimuru nodded, and thought. Milim would be needed to hold the door for them and keep the demons out. They couldn't involve her in the assault, as there was no way Rimuru would allow those things near his home. There were options, though. Finally, he said, "I have an idea…"

0000000000

Souei entered the grounds of the plant farthest from the demons' headquarters, and approached the orphanage carefully. It was early evening and the children were out playing. They'd discussed various ways to do this, and settled on approaching some of the older children. They might have responded better to Norman or Emma, but bringing them back was out of the question.

Who would approach the children, though, wasn't really Souei's concern. The demons lying in wait were his focus. The children, he suspected, could have walked past their hiding places and not been any the wiser, but to Souei, the forces waiting in ambush were fairly obvious.

That would make it easy. He bypassed three sentries without being noticed. When he was within 100 metres of the edge of the field surrounding the orphanage, he stepped on a twig under the perch of one of the watchers.

There was a confused noise and shifting from the branch over his head, and Souei repressed a sigh. _This is embarrassing. I really have to allow these lumps to capture me?_

He began to move away from the tree at a clumsy run, as the demon finally registered his presence and dropped to the ground to attack him. His retreat attracted the attention his entrance into the plantation grounds had not, and he soon found himself surrounded.

The first demon to jump him was sent flying into two others with a simple body throw. He made a break for the new opening in their line, but the three were on their feet almost immediately. Two quick blows put the closest one on the ground with crippling injuries. The second merely received a broken leg before being kicked into a demon attacking from behind.

The rest were closing in, and Souei drew his sword. He rarely had to resort to it, but the numbers warranted an edge. The ambush had been expected, but there were nearly a dozen of the creatures around him and he could hear more approaching.

One of the larger creatures, the same type Milim had described, pushed through the trees.

"He's making a hell of a racket," one of the smaller demons complained.

"The kids are being pulled inside right now," another answered. "They'll never know."

The big one charged Souei, uncaring of the blade that removed one of its fingers. The spy danced away from the retaliatory strike, and stabbed a careless onlooker in the chest. Some of the others laughed and teased their comrade about his carelessness even as the wound closed and the demon got back to his feet.

"Regeneration. Interesting." He was not actually concerned, but he put a bit of tension in his voice for their benefit.

"Nothing you can do can hurt us." one bragged. "The best you can do is inconvenience us, and we'll make you pay in blood for every second you make us waste our time. Where's the meat?!"

"If you mean the children," Souei answered coldly, after beheading the speaker, "they're safe, and they'll stay safe." Even decapitation didn't kill the demon, although it was definitely out of the fight. He could see the chest rising and falling, and the eyes following him. Souei began to experiment, as he evaded their blows and struck at them in what he hoped would be seen as a random and desperate manner. He made a point of kicking the severed head into the bushes while he was at it.

They were pressing him hard, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. The fact that they healed quickly and completely was the most annoying thing about them. He let a couple of them land glancing blows just to make them believe they were getting somewhere.

They were not unskilled, but the difference in their levels was very telling. The numbers they brought to bear was the main threat to him. He carefully allowed the fight to become a stalemate, needing to keep them busy as long as possible, so he took the time to experiment.

Stabs to vital organs only seemed to inconvenience and annoy them. Decapitation worked, but the one he had done that to was still alive as well. At least it was breathing. He was staggered by a blow from the large one and went to one knee, using the momentum to add power to a swing that cut the legs from under another demon. The legs, he noted as he rolled to his feet and continued the fight, began to regrow fairly quickly, so that didn't work. They kept part of their faces covered, and he wondered if that might be a clue.

Leaping aside to avoid an overhand blow from the big one, he swung his blade in a horizontal cut, removing the top half of a demon's head, bisecting the mask. The demon dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. That one stopped breathing.

_Got it_.

The actual death of one of their number made the demons angry and desperate. He lost his sword when one deliberately impaled itself, and used its weight and strength to wrench it from Souei's hand. It barely mattered, as Souei could have finished the fight at any time, but he had his orders.

A second's hesitation on which way to dodge got him tackled, and the rest piled on. In short order, he was bound and being carried toward the inner gate. The restraints were mildly impressive, and Souei was glad he would have a few moments to find the most expedient way of freeing himself.

They bore him through the gate to the central area and loaded him into a vehicle. Four demons rode in the back of the strange wagon with him, keeping their weapons ready. He knew that the rest weren't far away. One, to judge by the sound, was on the roof.

The trip lasted a little over half an hour by Souei's reckoning. His captors didn't speak to him or to each other during the ride. He suspected they were under orders not to do so. It suggested that someone was being cautious.

The roads were level and well-maintained, based on the smoothness of the ride, but beyond that he could tell very little. Eventually, the vehicle stopped at what must have been the gate into the section containing the headquarters building. After a moment, they continued and soon came to a stop. The rear door opened and he was hauled out. He eyed the familiar building with some satisfaction, his presence there meaning that everything was going according to plan. The route through the building to a chamber on the second floor was carefully noted so that he could make a rapid exit if necessary.

They kept him waiting outside for almost an hour while the demons that had captured him went in individually and were, presumably, questioned about him and the details of the fight. He wondered what it said about their boss, that he was speaking to them individually and not as a group, but decided to hold off on making any deductions until he had more information. Eventually, he was dragged inside.

The room had the feel of an audience chamber, and a demon in an ornate, well-tailored and immaculately clean outfit rose from behind his large desk to meet the group. He approached Souei without hesitation and looked him over curiously.

"It would seem the previous Grandmother was telling the truth. This one superficially resembles a human, but clearly isn't. Likely the one she saw was the same type." He addressed Souei directly. "What are you?"

The kijin stayed silent. He would only speak if the demon boss's attention started to waver.

"Going to be that way?" The boss sighed. "Okay." He regarded Souei thoughtfully. "You look like a human save for those horns. Some sort of hybrid perhaps?" Some of the guards gagged at the notion, and the boss gave them a stern look.

"Granted, a disgusting notion, and it seems rather unlikely." He eyed his prisoner thoughtfully. "No. You're something new. Something very different." Eyes narrowed in thought for a moment. "What I can't understand is why you're even involved. The female, from Grandmother's description, sounded like she was playing with our tamed maneaters. She didn't seem to show any interest in Grandmother or the former mom of plant three. So, what is your interest? Do you and whoever you represent want the meat for yourselves? If so, perhaps we can make a deal. If you do want them for the same reason we do, you know how valuable the premium meat is."

Souei didn't respond.

"I can't think what other use you would have for them. Too small and weak to make decent slaves, and what else are humans good for?"

Still no response. Souei knew that things were proceeding as planned on his end, but had no way of knowing how the others were faring. He needed time.

"Perhaps you were recruited by the human resistance?" He shook his head in mock despair. "If so, you've truly been sold a bill of goods. There are wild humans, but nothing near organized enough to be called a 'resistance' actually exists. They're simple game animals, nothing more. We allow them to run free so our poachers can have some sport."

Souei kept his expression neutral. The fact that there was a human resistance was interesting, though, not terribly surprising. He wondered if they might prove useful for future endeavours in this world.

"The humans really just need to give up and except the natural order of things, as the ones here have. Grandmother and those like her have accepted their role in the grand scheme, and they know better than the game animals outside that there is no hope. In having accepted their place, they live much better lives." He regarded Souei. "Will your kind need to be taught their place as well?"

Souei still kept silent, and the only response he gave the head demon was a cold hard stare.

The demon kept his gaze on him for a few minutes, but when Souei still didn't give any response, he turned away with a shrug. "It seems our guest has no interest in talking for the moment. Very well. Take him away, and have our scientists examine him. See if they can find out anything."

Before the guards could come up to him, Souei finally spoke. "You asked us what we wanted the children for…?" The leader held up his clawed hand, indicating the guards to halt. "The answer is we wanted to _save_ them. Nothing more or less."

The demon scoffed. "Save them?! What possibly reason would you have for doing that? What payment do you expect mere children to pay you for your troubles?"

Souei narrowed his eyes at him. "Service is its own reward, demon. We saved those children because they were in need, and our good conscience would not stand idly back while their lives were in danger."

The creature seemed momentarily taken back by the word _demon_ for some reason. It didn't occur to Souei that the children were the ones who had called the creatures that, and that it had never actually been established that that was what these monsters actually were.

"I will ask you again," the demon, or whatever it was, hissed lowly, "where…are…the products?!"

Souei replied its thin gaze with one of his own. "Beyond your reach," he said simply, angering the monster.

"We have our forces searching the land for miles," it added. "It's only a matter of time before we find them."

"Doubtful."

The demon roared and slammed its clawed fist on the floor beside the Kijin, placing a large dent in it. "You will tell me where…!" Whatever question he was about to ask then was interrupted, as a loud alarm suddenly sounded throughout the building.

"You wish to know why I am here," Souei then said. "Very well. I am here…as a _distraction_!"

With those words, Souei suddenly broke out of his shackles, having already picked them open while the monsters had been talking. Before any of them had a chance to react, he vanished from sight, and a second later the leader found he couldn't move.

"Wha…?!" he stuttered, as he found long lengths of some kind of thread wrapped around him, holding him in place. He tried to break out of it, but despite how thin it looked, the thread was unbelievably strong. "What is…?!"

There was a loud sloshing sound, followed by the splat of his kind's blood on the floor, and he looked over to see one of his guards with a blade right through his head, piercing his middle eye. The guard fell to the floor, revealing their prisoner right behind him.

"You asked if my kind and I needed to be taught our place," said the horned man, as he brandished another blade at them. "Well, please, feel free to teach me."

0000000000

**Several Minutes Earlier: **

Yukko wrote in her ledger, marking off the days before the shipment of the next product, aka the orphan, was due. She had decided that it would be Simon, as he seemed the obvious choice. The last month had been eventful, to say the least. Grandmother was now gone, and replaced with a new one, but no exact information had been revealed about that. All she knew was that Grandmother had apparently made some kind of mistake, which had got _them_ furious with her.

Yukko was a tall, slender woman in her middle years, with light-coloured eyes, blonde hair tucked behind her ears, and short bangs framing her forehead. She had been a mom since her early twenties, and thus had many years of experience. She found the idea of Grandmother making a mistake almost incomprehensible, as the old woman had always been efficient in her work, and yet she knew something big had to have happened for them to dispose of her. And the fact that they were now patrolling the grounds only added to the mystery.

_Them_ had always had a strict policy of staying out of the plantation, so that the children would grow up obliviously safe and carefree. And yet, in one month they had broken tradition and started coming into the grounds, lying apparently in wait for something, but whatever that something was, she had no idea. She was, after all, only told what she needed to know, and apparently, they saw no reason to tell her why they were doing all this security. Fortunately, they were good at hiding themselves, as none of the children had seen them since they first began coming onto the grounds in the last month.

Shoving the papers inside her desk-drawer, she got up to go check on the infant children. As she walked out her office, she noticed how quiet it was. Still, though, she saw nothing strange in that, as the children were all playing outside, and the infants were taking their afternoon nap.

She walked over to the nursery, where the infants slept, and peeked inside to check on them…and froze.

The nursery was completely empty. All the cots where the infants should be sleeping were empty, and not even their blankets were there anymore. Yukko's first thought was that the older children must have taken them outside with them for some reason, and immediately rushed downstairs. She ran out the door and quickly began calling for the children, but there was no answer.

Where the children would usually be found playing all around the yard, was now as empty as the nursery. It was here that Yukko, for once, started to feel panic. She snatched out her radar, to look for where the children could be, but what she saw on the radar's screen chilled her to the bone and placed her mind in a state of incomprehension.

"It's not possible…" she whispered, staring at the screen in disbelief. The screen, like the yard and the nursery, was empty and blank, which could only mean one thing…and that was the children were gone.

"How?!" she all but shouted.

0000000000

"Okay kids! Just follow Ranga! Don't be afraid!" Rimuru urged the children forward through the portal. He knew that as soon as they were through, those transmitters in them would be rendered useless, since he doubted that the demon's radars could extend to another world.

He had sent Souei in first, in order to distract the demons and maybe break up their security a little. If they caught him, they would be so caught up in interrogating him that they might not realise he was only the decoy. That allowed time for the rest of them to start coming in and collect the prisoners. Rimuru knew there was no need to worry about Souei, as he was the one out of all of them that could survive anything.

After they had given him enough time, Rimuru had Milim open a portal to the plantation that was right next door to the one the children originally came from, thanks to the information that Souei had supplied to them. Luckily, there had only been a small contingent of demons watching the grounds, and they were dealt with quickly and quietly. Then they carefully approached the plantation's children. Needless to say, the kids had been shocked and nearly scared out of their wits when they saw them. Thankfully, after a lot of coaxing and urging, he managed to convince them they meant them no harm. It had been hard at first to convince them to go with them, but luckily these kids had apparently never been taught the basic rule of never talk to strangers, and were quick to trust.

Rimuru found that odd, as he remembered one of the first things his parents ever taught him was to never trust or talk to strangers. Then again, considering the kids lived in a place where they never saw any other adults besides their caretaker, and their home was literally a prison, he supposed that lesson was fairly pointless.

The sight of Ranga was both helpful and not. Half the kids were amazed and excited to see a huge wolf, while the other half were scared half to death. Fortunately, after reassuring them by petting Ranga himself, Rimuru was able to convince them he was safe. And after telling them that there were more kids, wolves and other creatures on the other side waiting to play with them, the kids were more than eager to go with them. Rimuru left out the part that they were there to save them, or about the demons and their mom who was planning to feed them to them, as he doubted that would go over well with any of them, and might likely cause a panic.

He had Souka and the rest of Souei's Shadow Squad go on to the house, which they infiltrated quickly, and liberated the rest of the children there. They had to make several visits, as the children there were all practically babies, and they had to carry them out and back to the portal. Rimuru couldn't help but notice how Souka fussed and cooed the babies, as apparently even the feared dragonewt warrior of the Shadow Squad had a soft side when it came to children.

Before arriving here, Rimuru also had Milim send 3 other parties to the other 3 plantations. They were under orders to remain undetected as long as possible, to gather the children wherever they may find them, and offer the choice to their caretakers to come with them. If they accepted then they were to bring them with them to Milim so that she could disable the chip in their hearts, and then reopen the portal for them to escape. And if they didn't accept then they were to incapacitate them straight away so that they couldn't alert their superiors.

As the last child went through, Milim closed the portal and sat down, looking bored. She had hoped she would get to fight more of the demons, but the others had dealt with the group they found, somehow doubting her ability to be discreet, much to her disappointment and irritation.

Rimuru turned around to return to the house, to talk to the mom in charge there. Despite the fact that she was responsible for the deaths of god knows how many children, he also knew she hadn't had any choice in the matter, and technically was a victim herself. They had given Krone a chance, and she had turned into a devoted mom for the children back home, as well as an ally and comrade to them, so he saw no reason not to give the same chance to the other moms here, or at least give them the choice to leave with them or not.

"Will you need help, lord Rimuru?" asked Shion.

Rimuru shook his head. "It will be better with just me. If she sees a group of us, she'll think it's an attack." _Even though it technically is,_ he thought. "You guys stay here and wait for me."

He hurriedly grew some wings out his back, and quickly flew above the treeline and over to where the house stood, where even now the proclaimed mother of this plantation was outside hurriedly searching for her lost charges. He landed down right in front of her, startling her so much that she nearly fell.

"Who…what are you?" she asked. She knew this person wasn't one of _them_, as she had seen them plenty of times in her life, but last time she checked, humans didn't have wings! And it didn't help when he retracted those wings into his back either.

"My name is Rimuru," he said, introducing himself as he bowed before her. "I've come here with an offer."

"My name is Yukko," she said, as she half-cocked her head at him curiously. "Where are my children?"

"They are safe. You don't need to worry about them. Just as you don't need to worry about those things coming for them, if you're willing to listen?"

She paused at his words, and he looked at her grimly.

"Yes, I know about the things that run this place. I know they have you raise the children to be their food, and that if you don't do what they say, they'll kill you."

If anything, he was saying shocked her, then she didn't show it, as she stood with her arms crossed, a stoic expression on her face. _Wonder if that expression is part of the mom's training,_ Rimuru thought.

"I came to offer you freedom and a new place to live," he added. "I have someone who can disable the chip in your heart, thus allowing you to leave this plantation, and I come from a place that's far beyond the demons' reach. They will never be able to find you, you'll be safe from them, and you won't ever have to send one of your children off to their deaths again."

The woman narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, I know it sounds unbelievable to you," he admitted, "but I assure you it's true. I can take you there right now if you're willing?"

She looked as if she were considering his offer, but there was definite fear on her face. "They'll kill me if I betray them," she said lowly.

"They won't ever find you," he swore. "I promise."

She stayed silent for almost a full minute, until finally she gave a slow nod of her head. "Alright," she said. "I'll go, but I'll need to get some things first."

Rimuru looked hard at her. "Anything you have here can easily be replicated at our home."

"Some of them are the children's personal items, which they've had since they were babies. If we're going to be leaving for a new home, they need at least something from their old lives to take with them."

He continued looking at her for a moment longer, and then nodded. "Be quick."

Yukko nodded back, and then hurried inside. She first made her way to the children's dorms, but then passed them and quickly ran to her own room, where her office and her secret room were located, along with the radio for contacting headquarters. She made it to her office, and was just about to go over to the door leading into her secret room, when…

"Do you usually keep children's toys in here?" Rimuru's voice sounded behind, startling her.

"How did you…?" she stuttered slightly, wondering how he had followed her here without her hearing him.

"I'm good at masking my trail, and at being stealthy when I want to be." Although his words had a tinge of humour in them, his expression was anything but. He looked at her with a stoic expression and a hint of disappointment. "I know where you're going. My scouts informed me that moms like you have rooms with radios, with which you can contact headquarters. I assume you intend to warn them about us."

The dark look she gave him was answer enough.

"Why?" he asked, honestly baffled. "I swore to you that those things could never follow you to where we're going. You would be completely safe from them, and free to do as you pleased."

"You have no idea what you're saying!" she snapped. "They have been around since before I was born! There is no safe place in this world where we can go to! And any who thinks otherwise is a fool!"

_I don't intend to take you to somewhere in __**this**__ world,_ he thought, but said nothing.

"As long as I obey them and keep sending them their products, I will be assured a decent life!"

"By products, you mean your children? The ones who you've raised all their lives, and yet willingly sacrifice them to those monsters?!"

She stuck her chin out. "They are given a good life here. There is no fear, they eat well, play with all their siblings, and when the time does come for them to leave, they are given a quick death with no suffering...!"

_Oh, I'm sure they're all grateful,_ he thought sarcastically. The way this woman was spouting her nonsense, it was like she was reciting a rehearsed quote. Perhaps this was some form of brainwashing the demons did to ensure the mom's loyalty?

"If you take them away, they'll be on the run all their lives, knowing no peace or stability ever again!"

Rimuru didn't bother explaining to her how he would have taken her beyond their reach if she had truly accepted his offer, since it was clear now she never would. Obviously, the demons had done their jobs well in brainwashing this woman. He doubted that even if he showed her his world, she would still only serve them.

"Please, just give the children back before you traumatise them any further," she said almost pleadingly.

_**I**__ traumatise them?! _

As she spoke, Rimuru noticed as she slowly inched closer to the door, obviously attempting to go inside so that she could contact headquarters. He sighed, realising now she was beyond any rationality, and lifted up his hand at her…

Yukko jumped slightly, as a yellow mist suddenly emitted from the blue-haired intruder's hand. It quickly filled up the room, and swarmed all around her. She immediately turned to rush through the door, to get to her radio, but the moment she tried, a wave of sudden fatigue passed over her, and she fell unconscious to the floor.

Rimuru stood where he was for a few moments, starring at the middle-aged woman lying fast asleep on the floor. His Paralysis Breath had succeeded in knocking her out for a while, which would give them all time to get the rest of the kids from the other orphanages. As he looked at her, though, he couldn't help feeling somewhat disappointed.

He knew he shouldn't be surprised, as Krone had warned him this would be the most likely outcome with the other moms, as all girls who were chosen to be moms were the ones who have fully given themselves to serve the demons. He supposed it made sense, as they wouldn't give such an important and delicate position to anyone who might betray them after all. What he couldn't understand, though, was why she would pass up the opportunity to leave this place, to be free from the demons and everything they had put her through.

He stared at her sleeping form for a few moments more, until finally he just sighed again and left. He had made her the offer, and she had refused. Now, they would all have to live with the consequences. He pitied the children of her orphanage, as he had hoped she would come so that she could keep them calm, but now that was not possible. They would just have to deal with them on their own.

He didn't envy her choice, as he knew the demons would be pissed with the disappearance of all the kids, and she, like all the moms, would most likely be blamed. Not to mention that with all the kids of the plantations gone, the demons would be desperate for any humans they could get, including adults.

_She made her choice, so now she has to live with it,_ he repeated in his mind, as he walked out. But no matter how often he said it, he was still left with the same feelings of dread and regret

0000000000

After dealing with Yukko, Rimuru returned to the others. The ones who could fly used their skills to quickly fly onto the next plantation, beyond the wall. Kaijin and Myrd were there, as they looked the most human, despite being dwarves. Rimuru had made certain that all the parties would have at least one member who looked human, in order to calm the children down.

Gabiru and his dragonewts were also there. Rimuru had been hesitant about letting him go, as he feared that seeing him would panic the kids, as he had the first group, but there had been no choice in the matter. They just didn't have enough human-looking citizens to spare.

Luckily, though, it seemed like his worries were for naught. Although some of the kids were definitely keeping their distance from him and the other dragonewts, a lot of the others seemed fascinated and were scrambling to get closer to them.

At the moment, though, Gabiru had his hands full, literally. He had two baby humans in his arms, both of which were bawling their eyes out, and he was having no luck soothing them.

"Come on, little runts," Gabiru almost pleaded with them. "Hush-hush-hush!"

Rimuru bit his tongue to keep from laughing. "Any problems?" he asked as he landed.

Gabiru seemed to forget about the kids for the moment, as he stood to attention, with the babies still in his arms. "None at all, sir. My men and I successfully took down the demons we found patrolling here. And after some coaxing, we finally managed to convince the run…I mean little dears here to come with us."

Rimuru nodded, and then noticed something. "And what about the children's caretaker?"

At this question, Gabiru sobered and looked down. "We told her what we were here for, and that we intended to save both her and all her charges. We said they would all be perfectly safe, but…" His pause gave Rimuru all the answer he needed.

"She refused?" he asked.

"She attacked!" one of Gabiru's fellow dragonewts said. "She went straight for us, and tried to take us down. Obviously she failed, as no one can take down Lord Gabiru. He…"

"What happened?" Rimuru interrupted. He knew from experience that once these guys got into their usual habit of praising Gabiru, they could go on for literally hours.

"I was able to halt her attacks, knock her out, and then tie her up back at the house," Gabiru said proudly. If one could be proud of knocking a lone woman out and tying her up.

Rimuru was about to nod again, when he thought of something. "Wait. You left her back at the house?"

"Of course. I didn't think it was best keeping her out here where all the kids could see her."

That made sense, but there was something else that worried Rimuru. "Let me rephrase that: You left her back at the house _alone_?!"

Before Gabiru could answer, a loud horn suddenly sounded throughout the entire plantation.

"Ga-bi-ru!" Rimuru hissed below his breath, as he clenched his fist, resisting the urge to punch the lizard's face.

"Can I hit him?!" Milim asked excitedly, making Gabiru gasp and jump back in terror. For once, Rimuru was almost inclined to grant her request, but at that moment they had more pressing concerns. The sounds of various creatures running and/or slithering from somewhere far off reached his sensitive hearing and magic sense.

"Save your punches for someone else, Milim," he said. "Open the portal and get the kids through quickly! We're about to have company!"

0000000000

Souei looked down at the demon lord, patiently waiting.

"How?" the demon asked. "How did you do that?"

"My skills aren't your concern. Tell me of your people, and what place you believe mine have in your order."

"You can't take the humans away. We need them!"

"Why?" Souei stared implacably at the trapped demon. "Explain." To add incentive, he tightened the threads a bit.

"My people take on traits of the things we eat. We weren't…aware…until we started preying on humans. Without them… We will be reduced to beasts again."

"And this is why we should leave you children to eat?" Souei felt his anger growing by the second. He pulled on another thread, and one of the other struggling demons fell to pieces on the floor. He took two steps to ensure that the middle eye was pierced.

"It is the only recourse we have," the demon argued, "and besides, they're just humans. Who cares? It's the only thing they're good for."

"I come from a place with many different kinds of people. While there is conflict and bigotry, by large the races coexist and respect each other."

The demon snorted. "Absurd. There's no place in this world like that."

"True. Now tell me about your master."

"The queen would kill me if I-" He winced as another of his guards was cut to pieces. "You can kill me. She can do worse."

Souei frowned slightly at this. He wasn't about to torture the demon for information. The notion turned his stomach. Still, Rimuru had asked him to learn what he could.

"If your kind takes on the traits of creatures you eat, do you only eat humans, then? The number processed would suggest otherwise."

"We eat other things," the demon confirmed. "We can pick what affects us, to a degree."

"So, eating chicken doesn't give you feathers?"

"Now, you're just mocking me." The demon growled. "I will tell you nothing more." He closed his mouth and glared at Souei. After a moment, the spy sighed and gave a hard yank on the thread, killing every demon in the room. That done, he turned and left, moving to secure the facility for his lord.

OOOOOOOOOO

The two demons on guard at the gate to the section containing the headquarters building stared blankly ahead, watching for any sign of trouble. Another demon came rushing towards them from the direction of the gate to one of the plantations, waving its tentacle-like arms about frantically.

"Guards! We need help!" it shouted.

"What is it?" the first guard asked, scanning the area for anything nearby causing the alarm.

"Outsiders have infiltrated the plantations, including that thing that attacked us last time! They're making mincemeat out of us! We need all the help we can get!"

"What about the head?" the second one asked. "He's with the others, interrogating that…_thing_ we caught earlier."

"I'll inform him what's going on, but hurry! They need every able-bodied soldier!"

The guards nodded, and raced past him, heading down the road that would eventually connect them to the enclosed areas of the five plantations. As they ran, one of the guards couldn't help wondering; _Mincemeat?_

As the guards disappeared into the distance, the third demon smiled. He then walked in the direction of the headquarters' building entrance, noting that there were no longer guards outside the doors. As he neared it, he made out the brief sounds of a battle going on inside. A dark cloud formed around him for a few seconds before vanishing, leaving behind Rimuru in his usual blue-haired, human form.

He had absorbed the body of one the demons they had disposed of at the nearest plantation, as he thought that posing as one of them might come in handy. Killing the two might have been simpler, but he expected the two to gather additional help along the way, not that it would do them any good. Easier to have them go to his people rather than take the trouble to hunt them down later.

Curious as to Souei's progress, he walked in while keeping his senses alert for any sign of attack. He found there was no need for concern. The floor of the entrance room was covered in bloody demon' body-parts. The ever stoic Souei greeted him with a bow.

Rimuru cocked an eyebrow at him. "Finished cleaning house, Souei?" he asked, indicating the demon corpses surrounding them.

Souei gave a simple nod, and reported. "All demons have been neutralised."

"What about the humans here?"

"They're all upstairs in the human's private quarters. When I broke out and attacked the demon leader and his underlings, an alarm sounded. I assume there must be some sort of protocol where if the girls hear the alarm, they must return to their quarters and wait there till it's safe."

Rimuru nodded, and walked on. "Well, let's see if we can convince these girls to leave with us then."

Souei followed his master, as the two of them walked up several flights of steps until they reached the top floor, sealed off by a single locked and bolted iron door. The look of it suggested that no human could get past it, but fortunately, Rimuru was no longer human. He rose up his hand, and shot a blast of lightning that struck the door, blasting it off its hinges.

"Not very subtle, my lord," Souei said with a touch of amusement, which was a rarity for him.

"There's a time for subtlety, and a time for action," replied the former human. "These people fear the demons for their strength. We're stronger. Might as well make that point so no one can miss it. Besides, reinforcements for the demons could show up any minute."

Souei nodded in agreement, and followed Rimuru as he walked on. The now empty doorway led to a long hallway filled with doors on each side. As they walked in, the doors all burst open, and a large number of girls of various ages came rushing out. Some were as young as 12 years old, and others were in their 20s, like Krone, but each of them looked ready to fight. Rimuru recalled Krone saying that these girls were taught a variety of skills, including combat, so he guessed these girls were also trained to respond to an attack on their HQ, which undoubtedly would entail defending the place.

He held up his hand to the girls, halting their approach. "Easy! We're not here to hurt you! We are simply here to offer you a choice…"

The word 'choice' seemed to strike a chord with them, as Rimuru expected. He imagined the last time they had heard that word was when they had been brought to the gates of their plantation by their 'mom', and then offered the choice to live at HQ as a trainee mom, or die like the rest of their siblings.

"I wish to offer you freedom," he said simply. "My friends and I have subdued the creatures in this facility, as well as those on the plantations."

"Impossible!" one of the teenaged girls replied hotly.

"No, it's not," Rimuru explained, and as a show of his abilities, he changed himself into one of the demons. The sight nearly caused a panic, so he quickly changed back. "All of my friends have abilities that these monsters here never even dreamed of. Fighting them is no biggie for us. We also know about the implants they use to keep you here. Don't worry. I have a friend who can remove or deactivate them. You'll be safe."

"Where would we go? Where in this world could we go that they can't…"?

"We don't come from this world," Rimuru explained. "I can't explain further, but just be assured that we come from a place where these demons, or whatever you call them, have no chance of ever finding you. I promise you; you will be totally safe there. I'm giving you the opportunity to come with us, to live free lives away from the demons, away from the fear, and to have better lives."

"The demons take care of us!" One of the young women, early 20s Rimuru guessed, spoke up. "They supply us with everything we need! We are given good, comfortable lives!" Clearly, that one had been there too long. She had, as Krone had predicted, given up hope. Still, Rimuru had to try to reason with her.

"Yeah, until the day when you're no longer of any use to them!" Rimuru snapped, a little more harshly than he intended, but he was becoming thoroughly sick of hearing the same words of blind, undeserved devotion. First from that mom, Yukko, and now these girls; _what the hell did those monsters do to these kids?!_ "We've already taken the kids from the plantations…"

The girls all gasped at that. He could tell from the looks in their eyes, they knew what that meant. No kids meant no product for the demons; hence they would need to look elsewhere for food.

"Yes, no kids means the demons might end up taking you instead! And what about those of you who are expecting your own kids?!" He looked at the pregnant girls standing amongst the crowd, each clutching their own bellies and stroking them as though to comfort the babies. "Do you really want your babies to born in a world like this? Where they'll be raised as food, and have only a slim chance to grow up? Even then, like you, they'll spend every second of their lives fearing that they're about to die! Is that the kind of life you're happy with?!"

"What would we do?" one girl asked meekly, the fear evident in her voice. "What kind of lives would we live?"

"Any kind you want," Rimuru insisted. "That's the best thing about freedom. I have a town full of good people that work and when necessary, fight to protect each other and the citizens of our land."

A lot of the girls looked eager, but many looked afraid for some reason. Rimuru remembered Krone's words; some of them might choose not to come because they would fear leaving the only lives they had ever known. He knew from personal experience that finding yourself in a whole new world could be scary, but he had never known the type of security and fear these girls lived with.

"Please," he said urgently, holding out his hand for them, "just come with us. I promise you; you will not regret it!"

"He's lying." one of the older women said. "He has to be." She sounded almost desperate.

"You sound worried," Souei offered from his place by the door, where he'd been keeping watch. "Is it because every person who accepts our offer is one less person between you and the demons' dinner table?"

Rimuru cast him a sharp look, but the girls responded to his words, shooting each other mistrustful looks. The woman who had spoken sputtered indignantly, but couldn't deny his words were true, even if that hadn't been her intent.

"This requires that you have a little faith in a stranger. I'll grant you that, but I _can_ prove that we can keep you safe from these monsters. Follow me downstairs." He led the way, and most of the group reluctantly followed.

When they saw the massacred demons, they blanched and began to tremble with fear, not of the demons, but of there would-be rescuers. "Just one of my people cleared this entire building. The rest of the demons aren't having much better luck at the plantations."

"We can keep you safe from them." Souei assured them. "But that is not a concern, as they will never find you."

"You underestimate them." An older teenager shook her head. "People have tried running before. They always die in pain. They make us watch."

That revelation didn't surprise Rimuru much.

"They won't have that chance again, if you come with us." He did his best to reassure them. "I have a friend that can remove the device they planted in you. No need to worry about dying because you want to leave, but I can't make the decision for you, and we're running out of time."

Without another word, he led the way outside. There were no demons to be seen. Those that had been on guard duty outside had all responded to the alarm and ended up decorating the first floor.

Milim flew down to greet him, much to the shock of the girls and women they were trying to rescue. The demon lord grinned happily. "The last of the orphanages has been cleared out. The kids are all safe." She looked at the group. "Except this lot."

"What about the moms?" Rimuru asked.

"Only one accepted." She shrugged. "Stupid, but you said we weren't forcing anyone."

"No." Rimuru sighed. "No, we're not." He looked over the girls and young women watching them. "Let's go."

Milim nodded and opened a portal back to their town. "Anyone want to stay and take the chance on being moms? Maybe you can get to serve your own kids up to the demons?"

Several, mostly the younger ones, rushed up to Milim, who touched each of the girls' chests. There was a short fizzing sound, and some the girls doubled over for a second, but apart from that they all seemed fine. Milim then ushered them to hurry forth, as they stepped through the portal. Other girls were more hesitant, but more than half of the pregnant women chose to come. The rest stayed, terrified of disobeying their masters.

With a last, sad look at the group, Rimuru turned and walked through the portal.

"Close it." He told Milim. "We've got everyone willing to come."

Sensing her friend's mood, the normally cheerful and rather oblivious demon lord stayed silent and closed the portal, not commenting on those that were looking around them in wonder or those that stayed behind.

Rimuru looked around at the crowd, picking out the older girls and the adults. They would likely require special handling. It occurred to him that some of them, including the one mom who had come along might have done so with the intention of returning the 'product' to their masters. It would be simple enough to prove that that was unfeasible, and he hoped that that would be the end of that ambition.

Emma, Ray, and Norman were already talking with some of the new arrivals. The rest of the children were doing the same, as they excitedly chatted with them. A little further away, Gabiru was carrying one baby in his arms, fussing and cooing him, along with his sister and the other Shadow Squad members. Kaijin and the three dwarf brothers were trying desperately to stop some of the youngest kids from playing with the tools in their forge. Souei was his usual stoic self, remaining still as a statue, despite the half dozen kids currently running around him. Ranga kept wagging his tail, to keep some of the kids from pulling on it.

The whole town looked like a giant playground at the moment.

"Lord Rimuru?"

He turned to find Rigurd had joined them. The goblin king stood with a laughing toddler on his shoulders, as he looked over the new arrivals.

"Yeah, Rigurd?"

"Including this group and the first group we rescued, we now have a total of 183 new people to feed and house. How do you want to handle this?"

The leader of the Jura Tempest Federation blinked slowly for a moment, as he considered the question for the first time. "DOH!"

The End!


End file.
